Connected bogies

ABSTRACT

Wire connection and pipe connection between two cars is easily performed.  
     Wires (electric wires)  29  and  30  of cars are connected to each other through connecting wires  21  mounted to a truck frame  4 C of an articulated truck  4 . The connecting wires  21  are inserted into a flexible protecting pipe member  28  and an intermediate portion thereof is mounted within a concave portion  4 Da formed on an upper portion of a side frame  4 D of the truck frame  4 C. And, an upper opening of the concave portion  4 Da is closed by a cover plate. Connectors  22  and  23  are provided at front and rear end portions of the connecting wire  21  for electric connection with cars. The connectors  22  and  23  are removably connected to connectors  26  and  27  of the wires  29  and  30  of the cars, which are mounted by mounting brackets  24  and  25  under the car bodies  2 A and  3 A.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an articulated truck mounted betweentwo cars.

BACKGROUND ART

In railway vehicles, it is known that a train is equipped with anarticulated truck between two cars thereof in view of cost reduction,and improved running stability for comfortable ride-in, etc. As shown inFIG. 8, in a case where the train (train set) is constituted by mountingan articulated truck 101 between a car 102 and a car 103, thearticulated truck 101 is positioned in a space under the cars. Wires 104connecting the cars 102 and 103 cannot sag down under a restriction of aspace because of the presence of the articulated truck 101. For thisreason, in general, car body ends of the cars are recessed to formspaces (concave portions) 102 a and 103 a, and the wires 104 areprovided between them above the articulated truck 101.

In the case of a train which is not equipped with the above articulatedtruck, crossovers of railway cars sag down on rail side betweenconnecting portions formed at end portions of car bodies of cars coupledby couplers (for example, see Japanese Utility Model ApplicationPublication Hei. No. 6-37045).

In the former construction, since the car body ends are recessed to formthe spaces (concave portions) 102 a and 103 a, an effective space withina passenger's cabin is reduced and a structure of the car body becomesintricate. In the construction in which the wires are provided above thearticulated truck 101, a car body structure becomes intricate with anincrease in the number of components, and a center of gravity of the carbody is located higher than that of the train which is not equipped withthe articulated truck. This is disadvantageous to the running stabilityand is undesirable to car performance.

In the latter construction, it is necessary to provide a protectingplate for protecting the crossovers connecting the connecting portionsof the railway vehicle under the crossovers in order to inhibit damageto the crossovers.

In the case of the train equipped with the articulated truck, the sameproblem arises, when pipes (e.g., air pipes) for control driving orbraking are provided between the cars, in addition to the wires.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been developed under the circumstances, and anobject of the present invention is to provide an articulated truck whichallows wire connection and pipe connection between cars to be easilyachieved.

The invention according to claim 1 is an articulated truck mountedbetween two cars, comprising a connecting wire or a connecting pipeconfigured to interconnect wires or pipes of two cars which are disposedunder floors of the two cars; and a truck frame of the articulatedtruck, wherein the connecting wire or the connecting pipe is mounted tothe truck frame. As defined herein, “mounted to the truck frame” means“mounted directly or indirectly to the truck frame.”

In such a construction, the wires or the pipes of the two cars areconnected to each other through the connecting wire or the connectingpipe mounted to the articulated truck. Thereby, wire connection or pipeconnection between two cars is easily achieved. Since it is notnecessary to recess car body ends to form spaces (concave portions)unlike in the conventional construction, an effective space within apassenger's cabin is not reduced, and an area of a passage can beincreased.

In addition, since the connecting wire or the connecting pipe configuredto connect the wires or the pipes of the cars is mounted to the truckframe of the articulated truck, the structure of the car body does notbecome intricate. Further, since the center of gravity of the car bodyis substantially as high as that of the train which is not equipped withthe truck, running stability is improved and car performance isadvantageously improved.

It is preferable that, as recited in claim 2, the connecting wire or theconnecting pipe has connecting members at both end portions, and theconnecting members are removably connected to receiving members providedat end portions of the wires or the pipes of the cars.

In such a construction, merely by connecting the connecting members ofthe connecting wire or the connecting pipe of the articulated truck tothe receiving members of the wires or the pipes of the cars or bydisconnecting them from each other, electric connection anddisconnection between the articulated truck and the cars foraccomplishing wiring or piping between the cars are easily carried out.

Specifically, when electric wires (crossovers) or pipes are mounted incar body ends or on roofs thereof, it is difficult to carry outmaintenance of cars including electric wiring or piping in a maintenancedepot where inspection or repair is performed. However, in accordancewith the invention according to claim 2, connection or disconnectionbetween the connecting wire or the connecting pipe of the articulatedtruck and the wires or the pipes of the cars can be carried out underthe floors of the cars. Consequently, maintenance of the cars isfacilitated.

In accordance with the invention of claim 3 or 4, the truck frame may beprovided with a concave portion on an upper portion of a side framethereof, and an intermediate portion of the connecting wire or theconnecting pipe may be mounted within the concave portion.

In such a construction, the concave portion formed on the upper portionof the side frame of the truck frame of the articulated truck, which hasbeen conventionally a dead space, can be utilized to store theconnecting wire or the connecting pipe configured to connect the wiresor the pipes of the cars to each other.

In particular, since the wires or the pipes of the front and rear carsare connected to each other by using the connecting wire or theconnecting pipe mounted to the articulated truck mounted between thecars, it is not necessary to provide the protecting plate for protectingthe crossovers (or pipes) provided between the coupling portions of therailway vehicle under the crossovers in order to inhibit damage to thecrossovers, unlike in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No.Hei. 6-37045.

In this case, like the invention of claim 5 or 6, it is preferable thata cover plate is configured to cover the concave portion formed on theupper portion of the side frame of the truck frame, and both endportions of the connecting wire or the connecting pipe penetrate throughthe cover plate and extend to outside of the concave portion.

In such a construction, a main portion other than the both end portionsof the connecting wire or the connecting pipe configured to connect thewires or the pipes of the cars is stored in a space defined by theconcave portion on the upper portion of the side frame and the coverplate and is not exposed to outside.

The connecting wire or the connecting pipe is not necessarily storedwithin the truck frame. In accordance with the invention of claim 7 or8, the connecting wire or the connecting pipe is mounted to the outerside portion of the truck frame by using the mounting device.

In such a construction, since the connecting wire or the connecting pipeis mounted to the outer surface of the truck frame by using the mountingdevice, mounting the connecting wire or the connecting pipe becomeseasy.

In that case, it is desirable to limit a degree of freedom(displacement) of the connecting wire or the connecting pipe. So, inaccordance with the invention of claim 9 or 10, the mounting device mayhave a protecting pipe member mounted to extend along the outer sideportion of the truck frame, and a fixing member configured to mount andfix the protecting pipe member to the outer side portion of the truckframe, wherein the connecting wire or the connecting pipe extends withinthe protecting pipe member. Or, in accordance with the invention ofclaim 11 or 12, the mounting device may have mounting members mounted tothe connecting wire or the connecting pipe to be spaced a predetermineddistance apart from each other, an attaching member attached to thetruck frame or car bodies of the cars, and a flexible connecting memberconfigured to connect the mounting members to the attaching member.

As defined herein, the term “flexible connecting member” means aconnecting member configured to connect the mounting members of theconnecting wire or the connecting pipe to the attaching member such thatthe connecting wire or the connecting pipe is not mechanically orfixedly connected but is displaceable within a certain range in order toinhibit the connecting wire or the connecting pipe from being disengagedfrom the truck frame or the car bodies of the cars, and includes chains,belt, and strings, etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a train to which a wire structure of anarticulated truck, according to an embodiment of a wire and pipestructure of an articulated truck of the present invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the articulated truck of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4A is a side view of a side frame of a truck frame;

FIG. 4B is a plan view of the side frame of the truck frame;

FIG. 5A is a side view of a construction in which a protecting pipemember (connecting wires) is directly fixed to the side frame accordingto a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 5A;

FIG. 6A is a side view of a construction in which the protecting pipemember (connecting wires) is displaceably mounted to the side frame;

FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C in FIG. 9A;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a modification;

FIG. 8 is a view of a mounting structure of wires of the conventionalarticulated truck.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described withreference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a train to which a wire structure of anarticulated truck, according to an embodiment of a wire and pipestructure of an articulated truck of the present invention is applied.FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken in the direction of arrows alongline A-A in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in a train 1 composed of a train set of aplurality of cars, an articulated truck (two axle articulated truck) 4provided with front wheels 4A and rear wheels 4B is mounted, forexample, between a second car 2 and a third car 3. The articulated truck4 allows car bodies 2A and 3A of the front and rear cars 2 and 3 to besupported from below by air springs 5 and 6.

And, wires (electric wires) disposed under the floors of car body frames2Aa and 3Aa of the cars 2A and 3A are, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4A and 4Binterconnected through connecting wires 21 (corresponding to theconventional crossovers) mounted to truck frames 4C of the truck 4. Theconnecting wires 21 are inserted into flexible protecting pipe members28, and are mounted to the truck frames 4C in such a manner thatintermediate portions thereof are provided within concave portion 4Da(see FIG. 4A) which are trapezoid-shaped in cross section and formed onupper portions of right and left side frames 4D of the truck frame 4C.That is, the connecting wires 21 are entirely housed within theprotecting pipe members 28.

The concave portions 4Da are closed such that their upper openings arecovered with cover plates 37 which are thin-plate shaped. Anintermediate portion of each protecting pipe member 28 (connecting wires21) is mounted to extend along a bottom surface of the concave portion4Da. Both end portions of the protecting pipe member 28 (connectingwires 21) penetrate through the cover plate 37 from an inside of theconcave portion 4Da to an outside of the concave portion 4Da and furtherextend in the longitudinal direction of the truck 4 outside the concaveportion 4Da to positions nearer the cars 2 and 3. Three lids 31A, 31B,and 31C are removably attached to the cover plate 37. The lids 31A and31C serve to fix the protecting pipe member 28 (connecting wires 21)penetrating through the cover plate 37 to the cover plate 37. Theprotecting pipe member 28 is removably mounted and fixed to a portion ofa bottom surface of the concave portion 3Da which corresponds to the lid31B by means of a fixing member 32.

And, the protecting pipe members 28 (connecting wires 21) penetratingthrough the cover plate 37 are bundled by bundle members 33 and 34 andmounted to front and rear upper portions of the side frame 4D. Theprotecting pipe members 28 (connecting wires 21) are fixedly mounted tofront and rear end portions of the side frame 4D by means of mountingbrackets 35 and 36. Connectors (connecting members) 22 and 23 areprovided at front and rear end portions of the protecting pipe member 28(connecting wires 21) to electrically connect the connecting wires 21stored in the protecting pipe member 28 to wires of the cars.

Mounting brackets 24 and 25 are mounted under the car body frames 2Aaand 3Aa of the cars 2A and 3A, respectively. The mounting brackets 24and 25 serve to mount connectors (receiving members) 26 and 27 of wires29 and 30 of the cars. The connectors 22 and 23 of the truck 4 areremovably connected to the connectors (receiving members) 26 and 27 ofthe wires 29 and 30 of the cars, thus facilitating wire connectionbetween the cars.

The protecting pipe member 28 (connecting wires 21) greatly sags down(sag portions 28 a and 28 b (21 a and 21 b)) in front of the wheel 4Aand behind the wheel 4B and then are removably connected to theconnectors 26 and 27 of the cars. The connectors 26 and 27 arelow-voltage couplers when the wires (electric wires) 29 and 30 arelow-voltage crossovers such as control lines or signal lines, and arehigh-voltage connectors when the wires 29 and 30 are high-voltagecrossovers.

As should be appreciated, in this embodiment, the connecting wires 21(crossovers) are stored within the concave portion 4Da which is an innerspace within the side frame 4D of the truck frame 4C to connect thewires (electric wires) 29 and 30 of the front and rear cars 2 and 3 toeach other, and the wires 29 and 30 of the first and second cars 2 and 3are connected to each other through the connecting wires 21. Thus, theconnecting wires 21 configured to connect the wires 29 and 30 of thecars can be easily disposed by efficiently utilizing a dead space withinthe truck frame 4C (concave portion 4Da of the side frame 4D).

When the connecting wires 21 mounted to the side frame 4D requiresreplacement, the connecting wires 21 can be easily replaced merely bydetaching the three lids 31A, 31B, and 31C attached to the cover plate37 and without detaching the cover plate 37.

Conventionally, in general, crossovers provided between coupled cars areconfigured to connect connecting portions provided at end portions offront and rear car bodies. The crossovers are made longer than aninterval between the connecting portions to deal with movement of thecars associated with travel of the train, and are exposed and sag downon the rail side by their own weights. However, in this embodiment,since the inter-car wires (connecting wires) are provided within theside frame 4D of the truck frame 4C by utilizing the inner space of thetruck frame 4C of the articulated truck 4, the inter-car wires(connecting wires) are not exposed. Therefore, unlike in JapaneseUtility Model Application Publication No. Hei. 6-37045, it is notnecessary to provide the protecting plate for protecting the crossoversprovided between the coupling portions of the railway cars under thecrossovers in order to inhibit damage to the crossovers.

While in the above described embodiment, the connecting wires 21 whichfunction as the crossovers provided between the front and rear coupledcars are mounted within the concave portion 4Da of the side frame 4D ofthe truck frame 4C, they may alternatively be mounted to the outersurface of the truck frame 4C as will be described in a secondembodiment.

Embodiment 2

FIG. 5A is a side view of a construction in which a protecting pipemember (connecting wires) is directly fixed to the side frame accordingto a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5B is across-sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 5A.

As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, a flexible protecting pipe member 43, whichis bent to sag down, is mounted and fixed to an outer surface of a sideframe 42A forming a truck frame 42 of an articulated truck 41 by aplurality of mounting members 44. Connecting wires 45 are inserted intothe protecting pipe member 43 to connect wires (feeder wires) under thefloors of the front and rear cars to each other. Since the connectingwires 45 are inserted into the protecting pipe member 43, the connectingwires 45 and the protecting pipe member 43 are positioned. In otherwords, the protecting pipe member 43 allows the connecting wires 45 tobe fixed to the truck frame 42. It will be appreciated that an innerdiameter of the protecting member 43 may be suitably changed accordingto the diameter of the inserted wires (electric wires), the number ofwires, etc, and the position at which the protecting pipe member 43 ismounted and fixed may be suitably changed as desired.

The protecting pipe member 43 (connecting wires 45) is mounted and fixedto the truck frame 42 (side frame 42A) at positions more distant fromthe articulated truck 41 by mounting members 46 and 47.

When the protecting pipe member 43 (connecting wires 45) is mounted toan outer surface of the truck frame 42, it is not necessary to entirelyfix the protecting pipe member 43. Instead, the protecting pipe member43 may be mounted to be movable within a predetermined range as shown inFIGS. 6A and 6B.

Specifically, mounting rings 51 are mounted to the protecting pipemember 43 to be spaced apart a predetermined distance from each other inan axial direction of the protecting pipe member 43, and attachingmembers 54 are provided on the truck frame 42 or on the front and rearcar bodies 52 and 53 so as to correspond to the mounting rings 51. And,the mounting rings 51 are connected to the attaching members 54 throughconnecting chains (flexible connecting members) 55. In this case, themounting rings 51 are movable with respect to the attaching members 54within a range, and within that range, mounting portions of theprotecting pipe member 43 (mounting portions of the mounting rings 51)are displaceable.

The above described embodiments are intended not to be limiting of thepresent invention, which may be variously altered as described below.

(1) In the above described embodiments, the connecting wires are fixedto the truck frame by using the mounting members, but this is onlyillustrative. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the position of theprotecting pipe for protecting the connecting wires may be restrictedbased on a positional relationship with components of an articulatedtruck (layout). In this case, protecting pipe members 62 into which theconnecting wires 61 are inserted are made of synthetic resin havingrelatively high hardness, and fitted in upper portions of side frames65A of truck frames 65 so as not to interfere with mounting portions ofair springs 64 of the articulated truck 63. The wires on the right andleft sides are main circuit straight pull wires and control circuitstraight pull wires, respectively.

(2) While in the above described embodiments, the wires and the pipesare entirely protected by the protecting pipe member, the protectingpipe member for a part of or entire of these may be omitted.

(3) While in the above described embodiments, the connecting wires whichfunction as the crossovers provided between the front and rear coupledcars have been described, the present invention is not intended to belimited to this. The present invention may be, of course, applicable toconnecting pipes (e.g., pipes required for control by air) which areprovided between front and rear cars and serve to connect pipes of thefront and rear cars, or to both of the connecting wires and theconnecting pipes. In that case, both of the wires and the pipes may be,of course, mounted within or outside of the truck frame. In addition,for example, the connecting wires may be mounted within the truck frameand the connecting pipe may be mounted to an outer surface of the truckframe. Or, the connecting pipe may be mounted within the truck frame andthe connecting wires may be mounted to the outer surface of the truckframe.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention is practiced as described above. Since the wiresand the pipes disposed under the floor of car body frames are connectedto each other through the connecting wires or the connecting pipemounted to the truck frame of the articulated truck, wiring and pipingbecome easy and maintenance of the articulated truck is facilitated.

In particular, the connecting wires or the connecting pipes may be eachstructured to have connecting members at both ends portions andreceiving members provided at end portions of the wires or the pipes ofthe cars are connected to the connecting members. Thereby, merely byconnecting the connecting members of the truck to the receiving membersof the cars or disconnecting them from each other, connection anddisconnection of the wires and the pipes between the articulated truckand the cars can be easily accomplished.

1. An articulated truck mounted between two cars, comprising; aconnecting wire or a connecting pipe configured to interconnect wires orpipes of two cars which are disposed under floors of the two cars; and atruck frame of the articulated truck, wherein the connecting wire or theconnecting pipe is mounted to the truck frame.
 2. The articulated truckaccording to claim 1, wherein the connecting wire or the connecting wirehas connecting members at both end portions, and the connecting membersare removably connected to receiving members provided at end portions ofthe wires or the pipes of the cars.
 3. The articulated truck accordingto claim 1, wherein the truck frame is provided with a concave portionon an upper portion of a side frame thereof, and an intermediate portionof the connecting wire or the connecting pipe is mounted within theconcave portion.
 4. The articulated truck according to claim 2, whereinthe truck frame is provided with a concave portion on an upper portionof a side frame thereof, and an intermediate portion of the connectingwire or the connecting pipe is mounted within the concave portion. 5.The articulated truck according to claim 3, further comprising: a coverplate configured to cover the connecting wire or the connecting pipewithin the concave portion, wherein both end portions of the connectingwire or the connecting pipe penetrate through the cover plate and extendto outside of the concave portion.
 6. The articulated truck according toclaim 4, further comprising: a cover plate configured to cover theconnecting wire or the connecting pipe within the concave portion,wherein both end portions of the connecting wire or the connecting pipepenetrate through the cover plate and extend to outside of the concaveportion.
 7. The articulated truck according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a mounting device configured to mount the connecting wire orthe connecting pipe to an outer side portion of the truck frame.
 8. Thearticulated truck according to claim 2, further comprising: a mountingdevice configured to mount the connecting wire or the connecting pipe toan outer side portion of the truck frame.
 9. The articulated truckaccording to claim 7, wherein the mounting device has a protecting pipemember mounted to extend along the outer side portion of the truckframe, and a fixing member configured to mount and fix the protectingpipe member to the outer side portion of the truck frame, wherein theconnecting wire or the connecting pipe extends within the protectingpipe member.
 10. The articulated truck according to claim 8, wherein themounting device has a protecting pipe member mounted to extend along theouter side portion of the truck frame, and a fixing member configured tomount and fix the protecting pipe member to the outer side portion ofthe truck frame, wherein the connecting wire or the connecting pipeextends within the protecting pipe member.
 11. The articulated truckaccording to claim 7, wherein the mounting device has mounting membersmounted to the connecting wire or the connecting pipe to be spaced apredetermined distance apart from each other, an attaching memberattached to the truck frame or car bodies of the cars, and a flexibleconnecting member configured to connect the mounting members to theattaching member.
 12. The articulated truck according to claim 8,wherein the mounting device has mounting members mounted to theconnecting wire or the connecting pipe to be spaced a predetermineddistance apart from each other, an attaching member attached to thetruck frame or car bodies of the cars, and a flexible connecting memberconfigured to connect the mounting members to the attaching member.